WHITTLESEA coach Brad Dean says only his club’s best will be good enough in 2015 as it prepares for a return to Division 2.
The Eagles return to the middle tier of the Northern Football League after winning just one match in Division 1 last year.
But despite winning premierships in each of their past two seasons in second division – in between two short stints in Division 1 – Dean has warned his playing group against easing up during their pre-season campaign.
“We’re probably sitting dangerously where we can fall back in to thinking that we’re owed something or entitled to win games of footy because we’re going back a level,” Dean told NFL.org.au.
“I watched a bit of Division 2 footy last year and I think it’s going to be a very even competition and we’re coming off a one-win season and have lost three of our best seven players.
“We’ve got to be realistic with where we’re at and without that hard work we’ll be in for another long year.
“Ability-wise I’ve got no problem that we’ll be able to match it with anybody, but it’s just that work rate that we’ve got to make sure we get right.”
Whittlesea is moving into its new campaign without three of its better performed players in 2014, with Lucas Hobbs, Jeremy Page and Mitchell Scholard all leaving the Eagles’ nest during the off-season.
Hobbs (pictured below) will continue in Division 1 with preliminary finalist Macleod, Scholard has moved to Kyneton, while Page has joined EDFL outfit Craigieburn – where he will play under former coach Peter Bugden.
While disappointed to lose the key trio, Dean said opportunities had now been created for the club’s next crop of senior players.
“We want to be successful long term in Division 1 (and) we need to lay the foundations now,” he said.
“We’ve got a very young group and I’ll add to that with some quality and hopefully in one, two or three years – however long it takes to get to Division 1 – we’re going to be able to stay there.
“The one bloke that we won’t be able to replace is Lucas Hobbs who has gone to Macleod.
“He’s one of the better players in the competition and I understood his reasons because he wanted to keep playing Division 1 footy. He wanted to get the best out of himself and didn’t think it was the right thing for him to go back to Division 2 so we fully understand that.”
The Eagles have been able to lure two VFL-listed players during the off-season, with Cameron Conlon (Northern Blues) and Jai Robinson (Coburg and Mernda) both committing to the club.
Dean said he was reluctant to expect too much from the duo given their availability may be severely limited due to their VFL commitments.
In their place, Dean listed Joel Bramble, Janan Daniel and Nathan Stefanile as players he hoped would emerge as elite players in Division 2.
“Joel Bramble is probably one of the guys who stands out, his pre season has been really good,” he said.
“He played some really good football across half back last year but was one of those young guys who come Round 10 or Round 12 probably hit the brick wall a little bit.
“He’s worked really hard and he knows there are opportunities now to move into the middle of the ground.
“Janan Daniel is probably the obvious one of those younger blokes who we feel can become a really dominant player in second division. He was returning off a knee injury last year so he’d missed 12 months of footy and you could see he was getting better week by week.
“The other one we’re hoping can have a full six months of footy is Nathan Stefanile who’ll take over the first ruck duties from Jeremy.
“Nathan is 20 years of age and has got all the tricks in the book but he can see now that there is a spot there to make his own.
“Hopefully (he’ll) take the next step because I believe he can be the dominant big bloke in second division.”
Reflecting on his debut season as coach, Dean said a lack of depth cost Whittlesea its place in Division 1.
The Eagles finished the year with a 1-17 record, but were competitive in many of their defeats, which included two losses by less than eight points against grand finalist Heidelberg.
“Obviously it’s disappointing as we went in with high expectations,” he said.
“At the end of the day our senior players stood up and had really good years but we lacked depth with the players in the bottom six or bottom eight who just couldn’t sustain their performances.”
Whittlesea’s 2015 season commences with a home game against Diamond Creek on April 11.
